He considered my words, then signed. “I will remain upstairs while your group is at the house. I have a few things I can do for my import/export business.”

I laughed at his reference to his fake career and started us walking. In the opposite direction of Asher, thank goodness. But then it occurred to me to ask, “Wait, what are you doing here?”

“I want to take you somewhere,” he said.

“Where?” I asked. “Grocery shopping?”

“No,” he answered with a smug smile. “It’s a surprise.”

27

VICTOR

“Does this surprise include bathroom breaks?” Dawn asked Victor after the third hour of driving.

A fair request. They had been on the road a while, and he needed gas anyway. He pulled into a station. However, Dawn didn’t immediately get out.

“So I know we’re going south. The highway signs told me that much,” she said, turning to face him in her seat. “But how close are we to our final destination?”

“Another couple of hours of driving,” he answered.

Dawn squirmed, and he didn’t think it was because of her need to use the facilities.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s just…that soft presentation I mentioned earlier is, like I said, on Sunday. And this surprise of yours is really far away. I just want to make sure this isn’t….”

She cut her eyes to the side and trailed off, not finishing. And Victor suddenly understood why she was acting so wary and hesitant.

She thought he was sabotaging her. That this surprise was actually another punishment in disguise.

Guilt hit him like a gut punch. Hard and without warning. So it felt like he was choking a little when he rushed to assure her, “I’ll have you back home by tomorrow. You won’t miss anything. I promise.”

The word promise brought up an old memory. And without thinking about it, he added, “no cheat.”

Her eyes widened, and she let out a surprised laugh. But then a suspicious look came over her face as she signed-asked, “Is the surprise fruit?”

He’d forgotten this about her. How much she made him laugh.

“It’s not fruit,” he vowed, his shoulders shaking.

“It had better not be,” she mock-threatened before finally getting out of the car and heading into the station to use the restroom.

As soon as she left, the smile disappeared from Victor’s face, however. And his eyes went to the oversized tote she’d dumped in the backseat. It had a cartoon red panda on it. And she’d used it over the last few months as most would a school backpack.

He made a big show of getting out of the car, grabbing the gas nozzle, and jamming it into the Audi’s tank. But as soon as she was out of eyesight, he opened the car’s back door and rummaged through her tote.